Downtown Eastside Arts Community

Ideas

Out of the Rain

An Umbrella Project for the Homeless

Out of the Rain is a community art project to create awareness and engage the community in the concern about homelessness in Vancouver. The project attracted artists, community partners, and members of the community to participate in workshops, forums and exhibitions during October and November 2005, with a two day public forum to discuss what might be done about homelessness and a gala evening event and auction to raise funds to benefit people who are homeless.

Contributors

DTES Small Arts Grants Project

On May 25, 2012, a celebration of the contributions of recipients of the DTES Small Arts Grants, with performances by artists from the Downtown Eastside, opened a week-long exhibition of many of the 67 artists who received grants this year. This project, funded by the Vancouver Foundation with support from Vancity Credit Union and administered by the Carnegie Community Centre, is unique in that funds of up to $1000 are awarded to individual artists to take their arts practices to the next level.

This year’s artists took on projects in a variety of mediums, including ceramics, fashion, photography, conceptual art, music, video, fabric art and doll making, ranging from the creation of new works to preparing existing works for presentation or promotion. This year’s artists have shown a great spirit of collaboration, especially in promoting each other’s works, experimentation, the use of unconventional materials, and in branching out to different local venues for exhibits and performances.